This post is going to be a Beef and Guinness stew pressure cooker recipe but before I move on to that I feel the need to catch up! Where have I been? What have I been doing?

Well, I love my not-so-new-anymore job, I feel as if I have settled into the role and got to know my colleagues who are all really lovely. I am so lucky to be working with such a kind bunch of gals and guys. They are all incredibly inspirational and I love being amongst them in their group and working together for a main goal.

School life has been very busy, we’ve had Stone Age dress up days, Zoo lab days, School Valentine’s disco and many other appointments that all required some of my time to get something prepared. We managed but now we have had a last minute surprise for World Book Day on Thursday so I’m going to have to come up with something for that too now.

Another big decision I took was to drop the girls swimming lesson on Mondays. We attend Brownies on Tuesday, Dance on Wednesday and Performing Arts on a Saturday morning so I felt the swimming could go and we could grab back our Monday evenings for a chilled at home evening.

Half term came and went and the twins enjoyed their first ever Brownie pack holiday. It was themed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which as you can imagine was perfect, Brown Owl and Barn Owl had gone to a lot of trouble organising a lot of really fun activities for them, in fact, the girls returned home incredibly happy but exhausted, it’s taken a week to get back to normal! Whilst they were away the husband and I spent a cheeky overnight in Canterbury which was lovely. That’s another post in the wings waiting to be completed!

We have been the lucky recipients of a Sage Smart Scoop recently! The most amazing ice cream maker in the world and whilst we have been trying a recipe or two out of the manual to make sure we have the hang of it I have already come up with a fabulous idea (I hope) for Mother’s Day, I’m just waiting on a couple of special ingredients to arrive – watch this space! I’m warning you there might be a bit of an ice cream takeover going on in Mari’s World this year.

Talking of Sage appliances, today I am posting one of my favourite recipes that I use in the Fast Slow Pro pressure cooker, a Beef and Guinness stew with lots of carrots, I also made a Colcannon mash to serve with it and it went down a treat. With St Patrick’s Day coming at us fast, this recipe is simple and delicious too. I do hope you enjoy it.

A couple of months ago I was sent a Sage Fast Slow Pro pressure cooker to review. I could end this post here and now simply by saying, if there’s one thing you buy in 2016, make sure it’s a Fast Slow Pro. That is how impressed I am with it but that wouldn’t make good reading, would it?

I used to use a pressure cooker when I lived in Italy and I remember how convenient it was, how it cooked wonderfully and in a short amount of time too. I also remembered the tales of kitchen explosions (not mine) and the feeling of great caution around this particular gadget and the general negative vibe associated with pressure cookers. Well panic no more as I have tried and tested the Sage Pressure Cooker model in every conceivable fashion because it does a lot more than just pressure cook.

Sage Fast Slow Pro

First off it has to be said the Sage pressure cooker is more than just a pressure cooker; it’s a slow cooker, a risotto maker, it sautès, sears and reduces. With this baby you need never dirty another pan again. However it comes with a fancy price tag, £199.99 so my first plan of action was to discover if it was worth that money or would this contraption end up in the Cupboard of Forgotten Kitchen Gadgets too?

How do you cook with a pressure cooker?

I had no idea! The last time I used one was about 15 years ago. Fortunately Heston is on the case and when you buy your Sage appliance it comes with a recipe book which covers a great selection of basic recipes, in fact my first dabble with my #FastSlowPro was Heston’s Beef and Guinness pie recipe. It was a massive hit with all of the family.

I found the pressure cooker very simple to use as there are a lot of pre recorded times and pressure levels to start you off with, in fact, unless you are developing recipes, you could quite happily stick with them as they all work perfectly.

I tried the Bolognese sauce, a classic pot roast, a whole lemon and herb chicken, the pulled pork, the beef en daube. I even made a chicken stock, which alter made a chicken soup.

I was so intrigued, I invested in the BBC Good Food Pressure Cooker favourites book, a nice compact book with some wicked recipes. I tried a curry recipe, the lamb shanks, the Irish stew, the pork and rice one pot and a chicken casserole recipe.

I was very impressed, they all worked wonderfully.

Slow cooker

If you are a fan of the slow cooker, like I am, the Fast Slow Pro has incorporated the Sage Slow cooker and works exactly the same way. In fact I have been using all of my much loved slow cooker recipes in it too.

Risotto maker

I was very relieved to discover the Fast Slow Pro also makes risottos, as the previous Sage appliance did them so well. I have tried Heston’s mushroom and bacon risotto but also some new recipes I have come up with, recipes to follow.

Reduce button

This was a revelation to me as it makes the perfect gravy. After making a pie filling one day, I took out the meat and vegetables from the liquid and put to one side. Then I hit the reduce button and the machine turns into the best gravy maker in town, boiling the liquid and reducing it to a delicious thick gravy to pour over your pie. Amazing.

Practicalities

I think my favourite thing about the Sage Pressure cooker is I don’t have lots of dirty pans to wash up after the preparation. I can sautè the meat, remove, then sautè onions and vegetables, add flour, seasonings, wine stock and once I have everything ready in my pot, I shut the lid and switch on to pressure cook or slow cook as the recipe determines.

The cleaning afterwards is very simple, you wash the removable pot and if desired the lid too.

It’s a heavy piece of equipment and sits on the kitchen surface but that’s fine with me because I use it at least once a week, plus it’s an object of beauty to look at.

Verdict

I love it. I would go as far to say that if you invest in only one kitchen gadget in 2016 I really would make it the Sage Fast Slow Pro. It covers all the basics and more. I cannot ever see myself without this kitchen appliance. It is worth every single penny in my book.

Tea lover, gin drinker or white wine - not fussy.
Itchy feet person who plans to see the world once the kids are grown up.
Full-time working mum in social media.
Blogger since Jan 2010.
Fuelled by chocolate - again not fussy.
Permanently knackered.